Agenda item

To update the Committee on national changes to ‘proper practice’ with regard to corporate governance and to recommend to Council the adoption of a new Code of Corporate Governance (CoCG).

With the aid of a report by the Internal Audit and Risk Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel was apprised of the new Code of Corporate Governance.

The Council first adopted a Code of Corporate Governance in September 2003, which had been subsequently amended on a number of occasions to take account of updates to ‘proper practice’. A new ‘proper practice’ document - Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework – was published in April. The Framework was recognised as ‘proper practice’ by both the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and the national Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2016.  Therefore a new Code of Corporate Governance was required to meet the Framework and ensure that the Council acted in accordance with ‘proper practice’.

The Framework defined seven principles that should underpin the Council’s overall governance structure alongside a number of sub-principles that expanded each area.

In response to questions it was explained that whilst the wording of both the principles and sub-principles had altered from the current Code of Corporate Governance, the overall aims remained largely unchanged. However, Principles 4 and 7 were new.

Principle 4 related to interventions where there was an expectation that decision makers, both Members and Officers, would receive objective and rigorous analysis of a variety of options indicating how intended outcomes would be achieved.  Also that the Council should obtain and consider customer feedback and internal/external stakeholders views about service delivery options/decisions. It was considered that both of these expectations had been achieved although further work was required by the Governance Boards to confirm the degree of compliance.

It was further considered that the sub-principles within Principle 7 regarding transparency, reporting and accountability were being achieved and the Governance Boards would be tasked with confirming the degree of compliance.

In November 2013 six Officer-led Governance Groups were introduced in response to specific concerns raised by the External Auditor about ‘cultural issues’ and compliance with agreed procedures. The responsibilities of the Governance Groups had recently been reviewed and six new Corporate Governance Boards had been formed.  One revision being the removal of the ‘Risk’ Governance Group as it was considered that this was a matter for all Groups to address.

In preparing the Annual Governance Statement an annual review was undertaken of the Code of Corporate Governance arrangements which considered both overall compliance and if any potential changes were required to keep the Code of Corporate Governance up-to-date. Whilst the annual review process would remain, oversight of on-going compliance was to be improved through the involvement of Officer-led Corporate Governance Boards.

Each Board was given responsibility for oversight of specific elements of the Code of Corporate Governance. Reporting via the Corporate Management Team, the Governance Boards would be able to raise any issues of concern to allow CMT to take appropriate corrective action. It was expected that on-going oversight would have the benefit of reducing the time spent on undertaking the annual governance review so allowing the Annual Governance Statement in future years to be prepared by the end of June.

The lack of Member attendance at training events was noted amongst the Committee as requiring improvement. Members had previously completed a skills audit and the Chairman explained that he would discuss the matter with the Leader and the possibility of re-establishing the Member Development Working Group. 

Having been informed that the Code of Corporate Governance would apply once adopted by the Council and used in the preparation of the Annual Governance Statement for the financial year 2016/17 onwards, the Committee,

RECOMMENDED:

that the Council adopt the new Code of Corporate Governance as attached as Appendix 1 of the submitted report.